Video Transcript:
Jacqui
Good afternoon. I’m Jackie Ortmann with Ortmann concrete and boss lady bricks. I’m here with Sandy Ferkel and Images by Sandra. She is one of our bricks of the community. We love celebrating small businesses and welcome Sandy.
Sandy
Well, thank you. It’s so kind of you to have me here and just being able to share my story and I appreciate it.
Jacqui
Well, we appreciate, you know, bricks of the community, small businesses, we need to stick together and promoting the good ones is what we like to do here. So we are actually just got done with a pre photo shoot meeting. So Sandy actually does some work for us for our table lines and our website. A lot goes into good pictures.
Sandy
The iPhones are great.
Jacqui
However, you really need some good photography for your websites and so Sandy does that for us. And we like Sandy because we get that pre-meeting photo shoot, we get to discuss what things are going to look like, and then she gives us a list and an agenda which every small business owner needs because they are flying by the seat of their pants and all over the place. So we really appreciate the extra detail that she goes into and really appreciate you being here with us.
Sandy
Thank you. Thank you. What is your favorite part of owning a business? Oh gosh, I think just getting to just be able to use my talents that God has given me. I kind of see our creator of this universe as a very creative God and he gives us just a small glimpse of that creativity to appreciate what he’s done and to be able to use our talents. So I think just getting to share that with others and then in a business world, I get to help you share your talents and so you get to kind of let your world be showcased and being able to how you can improve the world with what you guys so I think that’s it awesome.
Jacqui
I really like that. What has been the most memorable event or day that Images by Sandra has been a part of?
Sandy
That’s a really good thing. Oh gosh, I don’t even know that there is one particular day. I think my world of being in commercial photography has just taken me to I don’t know, I’ve been like I’ve been on various different shoots around the different states and commercial photography has taken me into a lot of different realms of work where I’ve been on fashion shoots that are real glamorous and beautiful. I’ve been in boardrooms that are really interesting and high tech and I’ve been on hot industrial shoots that are really grungy and dirty. And just getting to see where everybody comes from and what their days look like, I think, is just really super interesting to me. And then just being able to even in the portrait world, when I’ve been in that realm, everything I shoot is always like a special event. I’m shooting weddings and senior portraits and it’s always a celebration, a 50th anniversary. And so it’s just special to get to be a part of those, even all the way down to just like, a newborn. I find it so special to be invited into a home of a little bitty newborn being born.
Jacqui
And they trust me.
Sandy
Yeah, it’s like they trust me to touch this little bitty baby that’s like less than a week old. It’s really special.
Jacqui
Those are some pretty special moments. And to be able to capture that and make that timeless, that is a gift I would think.
Sandy
You know, if I had to look back for something that I don’t know that people would say was exciting back in the day, sometimes we were working around people like Ozzy Smith or Bret Hall or I’ve like, powdered the nose of Archbishop Rigali. So just crazy things like that. I remember being on the set with Bret Hull and I was just an assistant at the time and we were working in the studio and it was hardwood floor. And when we were commissioned to photograph him, I think it was for the COVID of Rolling Magazine and we needed to have him do a blur shot as he was pretending to be hitting a puck. So he’s swinging really hard and oh my God. Just watching him being like, yeah, it was extremely intimidating. Like I thought I never want to be on the opposite side of him.
Jacqui It’s a lot different on TV. You have magnitude and talent. Those are some pretty sweet stories, I have to say.
Sandy
It’s been a fun, interesting ride.
Jacqui
Yeah, I bet. So those are memorable events and being able to capture people’s journey and help them put that in a timeline. What is your story?
Sandy
My story?
Jacqui
How did you get here?
Sandy
Yeah, kind of a long story. I started back at Washington University and I have a degree in a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography. So it was took an elective class and then the rest is history. But from there I jumped into the freelance world and then I was working at Venture as a photographer there, doing a bunch of products, use and fashion for their store.
Jacqui
For those under the age of 20 or 25. Venture used to be like a target.
Sandy
Yes, exactly. That’s true. And so then from there I went to Dillard, and I was the photography director at Dillard’s for a season of my life. And it was fun back when the budgets were huge and they treated us really well. And I would be on the advertising team and so we would sit in meetings with the buyers and they would tell us what the fashions were and what needed to be covered at that time. And I would take the merchandise and accessorize it, find the models, the wardrobe, the stylist, the photographers, the locations, and I would coordinate it all. And then I would be on set to produce the shoot. And I shot in St. Louis a lot, and I would shoot in Chicago at least monthly a few days. And I found myself away from home a lot, and I had a little baby, and she was kind of tugging in my heart, and so I wanted to be home more with her and not travel so much.
Jacqui
Funny what those kids do.
Sandy
I know. They just like, flip your world upside down. Yes, they do. I went ahead, and I took a position with a photographer who I used to hire, turned around and hired me to work for him and to run his studio with him. And so I kind of wore a bunch of different hats there over the years. Everything from assistant to stylist to digital tech to photographer to sales rep to studio manager, mostly, and mostly produced a lot of big commercial shoots. And so, yeah, I did that for a number of years, and that’s where we saw the whole digital age kind of come in and kind of turned our world upside down in another way.
Jacqui
Everybody thinks they can be a photographer.
Sandy
Yeah. So it’s a whole different world. And so now I started my business basically more in the portraiture kind of realm when people started asking me to shoot their senior portraits and their weddings and their events and stuff. And so that’s where Images by Sandra really exploded and took. So now my kids are at four now, and they’re all married and off and living elsewhere, and so I’m on the road a lot, and I want to be able to go see them. My business has kind of come full circle again, and so now I’m back into more weekday photo shoots where I’m working with people like yourself and helping to take all that wealth of information that I had back in the day of doing big production shoots and taking it to the small business owner and the solo entrepreneurs. And it’s just a rewarding thing.
Jacqui
I’m glad we met at a networking event. Ladies who lunch with our LBB. Ladies shout out to LBB.
Sandy
Yeah.
Jacqui
And you stood up and said, commercial photography, which is very rare these days, usually people are it’s all about portraits and stuff like that, which there’s nothing wrong with that. But your main focus was that. And so that caught my ear. And as we were vetting photographers, one of the impressive things was your knowledge and the things that you talked about and the things that you brought. When somebody like me has no clue, I don’t ask my children. I don’t take good selfies or good pictures of them, and I always do them dirty anyway. Not intentionally, but I’m horrible, apparently. But when we talked to you, you were bringing in the lighting and you were bringing in the backdrops, and the conversation was just on another level, the agenda and what that photo shoot would look like came with your proposal. So we were just—well, this is my purse. Our Bellatex table line is up and running on our website and looking gorgeous because of well, because of the hard work, but also because Sandy knows exactly she has just that eye and has the stuff. So please check it out@Ortmannconcrete.com and see her beautiful pictures and our beautiful tables. Do you have any advice you can give to a new small business owner or not for profit?
Sandy
Honestly, finding a good team like you guys, where you just have a really good team of army that they make you look good. And so in terms of photography wise, I would just say that I would try to try to see if you can work into your budget to have customs. I think our generation of people, they really see stock images and they recognize it and they’re looking for something very authentic and they want to get a glimpse into your world and who you really are. And when they see the stock photography, they just kind of keep breezing past. But when they see something that has people in it, then they’re like, oh, it slows them down. I think the stats are like 40% more engagement if you have people in it. And then that even rises even much, much more if you have yourself in it. So when you guys are in it, I notice that even for me, I will be posting things on whatever, and then as soon as I put myself out there, which I’m not a big fan of doing, but I know it’s a must. It gets so much more attention and so much more interaction, and I’m like, oh, my gosh, I know this is true.
Jacqui
We are still human and we still like people.
Sandy
Yeah, we really do like people.
Jacqui
Our biggest engagement, and I actually think our Mindy, everybody should have a Mindy.
Sandy
Just hand up mine.
Jacqui
But she puts out guests, the baby pictures and it is hands down the biggest engagement we get. And people love participating. She’s doing that. It was our 20th anniversary. But businesses, one of the biggest mistakes they make. We’re so used to doing it ourselves and as we’re getting it going and doing it, that’s all we have is ourselves. And then you don’t think you can afford help. And I will tell you, you cannot afford not to have the help.
Sandy
I agree.
Jacqui
And it comes from learning and doing and failing. But once you have the help, you realize how much it actually saves you and what you can actually get done. So definitely work that in, even if it’s a virtual assistant or a personal assistant, whatever. But that’s great. Well, I really appreciate you and thank you so much for coming out here and doing this interview with us and helping the other. And I can’t wait for our photo shoot.
Sandy
I can’t either. You should see their beautiful settings here. You’re going to love the photos.
Jacqui
Well, this is Jackie Ortmann with Ortmann Concrete here with Sandy Ferkel. Pay attention to your bricks and build with them. Ladies. Thank you.
Sandy
Appreciate it.